I've been browsing through the forums for a bit, and I have caught a recurring trend of people being recommended either the M50s or 880s as a quality entry headphone. I looked up some more reviews this morning.. but really can't find enough information (other than a bunch of people praising both sets) to make a definitive decision.

I've noticed that the M50s have an impedance of 38 ohms vs the 880s having 3 options, 32, 250 & 600ohms. Also noted that most people recommend the 600ohms 880's vs. the 250 or 32ohms.

Which headphones would you recommend of the two?
Would I need an external amp to run either of these headphones properly?
And what advantages/disadvantages are there to the 600ohms vs 32ohms?

Both are excellent headphones, I purchased a pair of 880's just the other day based on their rep. I'm no expert, but I believe that higher Ohms equals less harmonic distortion, but require a headphone amp to provide enough power for optimal output. Lower ohms don't require as much power but can produce more harmonic distortion. Whether or not you'll be able to hear the affects of said harmonic distortion will be up to your ears to decide.

I played it safe and bought the 250 Ohm version which can be powered nicely with my Duet 2. I haven't personally auditioned the higher ohm versions so I can't speak personally about the difference in audio quality.

Also, look into headphone burn-in. I'm currently burning mine and have been able to tell a significant difference throughout the process.

Binary, do I need a headphone amp to realize the proper potential of either of these headphones?

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I have the 250ohm 880's and run them through my Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, do find I have to turn it up a bit more than my old M50's and when I was using my HD25's, but as long as you have an audio interface, id say you will be fine.

I have the 250ohm 880's and run them through my Focusrite Saffire 6 USB, do find I have to turn it up a bit more than my old M50's and when I was using my HD25's, but as long as you have an audio interface, id say you will be fine.

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I got the 880's run through my Saffire 2i2, and i need them at full gain for an optimal listening level. I needed to borrow my dads headphone amp to fix this, so maybe the interface makes a difference.

I have the ATH M50 and I don't really like doing any mixing or sound design with them. They are a little heavy on the bass and everything I've done with them has been light on bass due to this. I'm thinking of getting a pair of ether the DT880 or the DT990 to try out and see if the open headphones help, until then I'm back to using some old senns when I need to do any mixing or sound design and can't use my monitors. That said, the M50 sound great when listening to music or playing video games.